17
Bergman and the Chemistry of Mineral
Waters
Mineral waters had been used in medicine since the Middle Ages, both for drinking
and bathing. Rich people travelled long distances to the spas in Germany, Belgium
and France, but these trips became dangerous or even impossible during the 30
years’ war. As a result, bottled mineral water was exported and sold in pharmacies.
The medical effects reported were often highly exaggerated, but in some cases
mineral waters had a genuine positive effect: magnesium salts have a laxative effect,
hydrogen carbonates neutralise stomach acid and dissolve mucus, and thus have
relieving effect on ulcers, while iron rich mineral waters relieve iron deficiency.
With an increasing use of mineral water in medicine, the interest in the properties of
these waters grew as a natural effect. Early contributions [1] to the field of mineral
water analysis were made by Boyle [2] and German physician and chemist
Friedrich Hoffmann (1660–1742) [3].
British physician and pioneer of water analysis Peter Shaw (1694–1763), who
classified the contents of mineral waters into salts, earths, sulphurs and spirits,
stressed that there was nothing supernatural about mineral waters, but that they
were simply solutions of different substances in water [4]. Shaw always begun his
descriptions of mineral waters by describing the spring, followed by the physical
characteristics of the water, followed by an analysis of the water by evaporation [1].
Bergman largely followed this scheme. In the 1740s, Brownrigg suggested that the
volatile spirit in mineral waters (i.e. carbon dioxide) was identical to the “damps” in
coal mines, [1] and Cavendish found that water from a well in London contained
carbon dioxide (fixed air) [5]. He also observed the ability of carbon dioxide
saturated water to dissolve calcium carbonate (lime). This is due to the formation of
soluble calcium hydrogen carbonate:
CaCO 3 ðsÞ þ CO 2 ðaqÞ þ H 2 OðlÞ ! Ca
2 þ
ðaqÞ þ 2HCO
2À
3 ðaqÞ:
Preparation of artificial mineral waters started as early as the 1680s, [1] but it
would take until the 1770s until production of artificial mineral waters occurred in
significant volumes. The production of artificial Pyrmont water by Priestley[6]
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. Lennartson, Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Torbern Bergman, Perspectives on the
History of Chemistry, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49194-9_17
235
Bergman and the Chemistry of Mineral
Waters
Mineral waters had been used in medicine since the Middle Ages, both for drinking
and bathing. Rich people travelled long distances to the spas in Germany, Belgium
and France, but these trips became dangerous or even impossible during the 30
years’ war. As a result, bottled mineral water was exported and sold in pharmacies.
The medical effects reported were often highly exaggerated, but in some cases
mineral waters had a genuine positive effect: magnesium salts have a laxative effect,
hydrogen carbonates neutralise stomach acid and dissolve mucus, and thus have
relieving effect on ulcers, while iron rich mineral waters relieve iron deficiency.
With an increasing use of mineral water in medicine, the interest in the properties of
these waters grew as a natural effect. Early contributions [1] to the field of mineral
water analysis were made by Boyle [2] and German physician and chemist
Friedrich Hoffmann (1660–1742) [3].
British physician and pioneer of water analysis Peter Shaw (1694–1763), who
classified the contents of mineral waters into salts, earths, sulphurs and spirits,
stressed that there was nothing supernatural about mineral waters, but that they
were simply solutions of different substances in water [4]. Shaw always begun his
descriptions of mineral waters by describing the spring, followed by the physical
characteristics of the water, followed by an analysis of the water by evaporation [1].
Bergman largely followed this scheme. In the 1740s, Brownrigg suggested that the
volatile spirit in mineral waters (i.e. carbon dioxide) was identical to the “damps” in
coal mines, [1] and Cavendish found that water from a well in London contained
carbon dioxide (fixed air) [5]. He also observed the ability of carbon dioxide
saturated water to dissolve calcium carbonate (lime). This is due to the formation of
soluble calcium hydrogen carbonate:
CaCO 3 ðsÞ þ CO 2 ðaqÞ þ H 2 OðlÞ ! Ca
2 þ
ðaqÞ þ 2HCO
2À
3 ðaqÞ:
Preparation of artificial mineral waters started as early as the 1680s, [1] but it
would take until the 1770s until production of artificial mineral waters occurred in
significant volumes. The production of artificial Pyrmont water by Priestley[6]
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. Lennartson, Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Torbern Bergman, Perspectives on the
History of Chemistry, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49194-9_17
235